Post-Game Quotes: HC Jim Schwartz

On whether the momentum of the game shifted after the two big penalties on DT Nick Fairley and DT Ndamukong Suh when the Lions were winning 14-0, and what he could see, if anything:

SCHWARTZ: I mean, they called them from the field so it doesn’t matter if we could see them or not. I looked on the replay on [DT] Nick’s [Fairley]. It looked like he got his head to the side, but he got called for hitting him with his head. We just have to play after that. That penalty doesn’t score a touchdown.

On what happened with RB Reggie Bush before the game:

SCHWARTZ: [RB] Reggie’s [Bush] been dealing with a calf injury. It was hampering him this week. He was able to get out there on Friday and practice and I thought he was going to be able to go today. In pregame warm-ups he aggravated [his calf] and wasn’t able to go.

On whether they should have had RB Mikel Leshoure as insurance for Reggie Bush in retrospect:

SCHWARTZ: It’s hard to say where the insurance comes from. Where do you put another player down? I mean, we only have 46. It’s not like you keep an extra player up and have to go light somewhere else. It was never an issue as far as running back depth. I think that’s a more valid question if we had had two injuries at running back. But [RB] Joique [Bell] and [RB Theo] Riddick both carried the ball and we didn’t have any issues as far as depth there.

On whether they had problems in the exchange and getting the ball to QB Matthew Stafford:

SCHWARTZ: It was slippery. The last one had nothing to do with the exchange. The last one we were motioning in and snapped the ball too quick. Playing on the road, we have to be able to handle stuff like that. We didn’t do a good enough job with it.

On the difference in the run defense in the first half versus the second half:

SCHWARTZ: The first half, we stopped in the inside run and forced them to go sideways. We were in pretty good position. In the second half we allowed them to run inside and that was the difference. Just about all those runs started off inside even though some of them broke off outside. But it was our interior run defense that needed to be better.

On whether Reggie Bush being out changed what they were going to do in the game, considering the weather:

SCHWARTZ: No, it didn’t change anything. We would have called the same game. I mean, the weather changed what we were going to do. We were expecting the possibility of weather, but even waking up this morning and coming here today, nobody was predicting six inches of snow or whatever we had during the game.

On whether the Eagles used the TE trapping more with the block, freeing up the inside in the second half:

SCHWARTZ: He wasn’t really trapping. He was coming back across the ball. We would have done the same thing on offense. They were doing that in the first half also, but that was one of the plays that they were running. They were running that, they were running a little open side play, but most of them were breaking inside. We didn’t do a good enough job on our interior. A lot of times we had guys in good position and we didn’t do a good job making tackles and finishing them.

On whether the conditions were an advantage to the skill player who knows where he’s going over the defensive player:

SCHWARTZ: I don’t know if there’s any advantage. You just have to find a way to get it done. We didn’t find a way to get it done today.

On the reason for WR Calvin Johnson being effective early in the game and not after that:

SCHWARTZ: It was tough to get the outside guys the football. I think he had one chance and he wasn’t able to come back for the ball because he was running. Other than the yard stripes, they were working with six or eight inches of snow out there, so it made it tough and we didn’t do a good enough job in our pass game. They made a couple plays in their pass game just getting balls down the field. We didn’t do a good enough job defending those. We moved the ball early, we fumbled in the red zone. But after that, we didn’t get anything done on offense. Our defense couldn’t stop the run and then offensively, we couldn’t get anything done. The best part of our team was [PR] Jeremy Ross returning kicks and punts.

On whether, in hindsight, the two fumbles early in the game that Philadelphia didn’t do anything with could have made a different game if Detroit had been able to convert them:

SCHWARTZ: It might have been, but at that point it was almost impossible to kick field goals there anyway so we still would have had to get the ball across the goal line, and you saw how difficult that was. The only time we even attempted a field goal or an extra point was after we had the false start and thought if we cleared out a spot we might be able to get it up. But it was going to be really, really difficult to kick a field goal in that game so we still would have had to finish those drives. But it took those opportunities away from us finishing those drives.

On whether T LaAdrian Waddle’s injury is potentially long term:

SCHWARTZ: No, he wasn’t casted. He was available to go back in. We’ll see where it goes, but we just went with [T Jason] Fox the rest of the way and having a guy 100 percent rather than having a guy that was nursing an injury. It was his elbow. We’ll just see where that gets.

On whether this game was a disappointment after the game against Green Bay Packers and seeming like they were finally getting used to winning:

SCHWARTZ: I don’t necessarily agree…I mean, we lost the game. Completely different situation, completely different everything than Green Bay. Every game stands on its own. It’s a missed opportunity we had to start this last quarter of the season with a win. We didn’t get that done, but we bounce back. We come back at home on Monday night and play a tough Ravens team.

On how Jeremy Ross was able to be so effective in the game:

SCHWARTZ: I think it falls into a little bit of the ‘you know where you’re going’, and specials teams-wise it’s tough. You’re covering the whole field. I thought our coverage unit did a pretty good job out there, but our return unit was doing a pretty good job of getting creases and he was doing a good job of keeping his feet. It was about the only offense we had for three quarters.

On concern with DE Ezekial Ansah’s shoulder injury being long term:

SCHWARTZ: I don’t know, I don’t think he was able to go back in. He hurt it during the game. We’ll see. It doesn’t look like it will be long term, but we’ll have to see.

On whether he asked his players about the weather conditions, especially in the fist half, and what they could adjust to help them be effective:

SCHWARTZ: Our guys were adjusting all the time. I don’t know, I don’t think we need to ask them if they can hang on to the football in the run. Pass game-wise there was some communication there with what routes we can run, what looks good, what doesn’t. I think we moved the ball in a couple of those and ended up getting that touchdown and that two point conversion. After that, they did a good job of getting us shut down. We didn’t do a good enough job after that also. We dropped passes. We fumbled an exchange. We had some other times. I thought that was a critical point of the game. I think they were up seven points. And we had the ball. Eight points…they were up eight. And we had the ball in that fourth quarter and Joique had made a reception and we were in pretty good position and then we fumbled the exchange in the next one when we were motioning the receiver. I thought that was a big turning point in the game also.

On whether Matthew Stafford should fall on the ball in the case of a missed exchange:

SCHWARTZ: We have to get the ball. You’re a player out there. If he picks up balls and throws a completion you say, ‘Well it’s a good thing he didn’t fall.’ In retrospect, yeah, but you can’t play the game in retrospect. You have to have players on the field that go out there and play and that situation just leads to a lot of other times if there’s room and you think you can get it, you get it and you throw it away. That put us in a pretty good position. It would have been hard to overcome a loss of 12 yards in that situation.

On if the weather conditions allow him to chalk up the loss to it not being their day:

SCHWARTZ: I don’t think any loss you can just chalk up. Nothing makes it any less bitter. Any loss is a bitter loss. We’ll regroup from this. We’ll come back next week excited for Monday night to play the Ravens. We’ll be ready for it.